MiR-1179 is downregulated in cervical cancer and its overexpression suppresses cancer cells invasion by targeting CHAF1A/ZEB1

Fahui  Lv; Youwen Zhong; Ling  Sang; Xiaoling Wu

doi:10.18388/abp.2020_5499

Fahui Lv Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The No.2 People’s Hospital of Hefei, Hefei, Anhui Province, 230011, China
Youwen Zhong School of Economics and Finance, School of Economics and Finance, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province,710061, China
Ling Sang Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The No.2 People’s Hospital of Hefei, Hefei, Anhui Province, 230011, China
Xiaoling Wu Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, 710004, China https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5713-4937

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18388/abp.2020_5499

Abstract

The anticancer effect of miR-1179 has been extensively studied in many tumors. The mechanism of miR-1179 action in cervical cancer, however, remains largely unknown. In the present study, miR-1179 was downregulated in both cervical cancer cell lines and cancer tissues. In addition, miR-1179 mimic suppressed cancer cells invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cervical cancer SiHa and Caski cells. We found that chromatin assembly factor 1 subunit A (CHAF1A) might be a direct target of miR-1179 and could be regulated by miR-1179. Furthermore, CHAF1A shRNA suppressed the cervical cancer cells invasion and the expression of EMT-promoted proteins. Reversely, CHAF1A overexpression not only promoted cervical cancer cells invasion but also upregulated the level of Zinc finger E‐box binding protein 1 (ZEB1), an EMT-related protein. The induction of ZEB1 could be counteracted by miR-1179 overexpression. It was observed that in cervical cancer patients’ tissues, miR-1179 was downregulated while the pathway of CHAF1A/ZEB1 was upregulated. In summary, our research indicated that the miR-1179 might regulate CHAF1A/ZEB1 axis and inhibit the invasion of cervical cancer cells.